


Morning Breath

by BaredWolf



Series: First Kiss Fics [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fallen Castiel, First Kiss, M/M, Nightmares, Platonic bed sharing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-03
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 20:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/828755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaredWolf/pseuds/BaredWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been a long time since Dean woke up in bed with another person, and the warm, comforting touch awoke a craving in him that he had forgotten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Morning Breath

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for mention of PTSD-related nightmares.

Dean wasn’t sure if teaching Cas the basics of human hygiene had been more difficult than teaching them to toddler Sammy, or just more annoying. Cas was sharp enough; he could generally pick up  _how_  to do something if Dean or Sam explained, and he already knew a lot. It was the  _why_  that constantly eluded him.

“ _Why_  do I need to shower so often? I’m not dirty.”

“Cas, you stink. Go shower.”

“ _Why_  do I have to change my clothes?”

“Because they’re dirty, Cas. Clothes get dirty when you wear them for three days.”

“ _Why_  can’t I just stay with you?”

And okay, so that last one wasn’t hygiene related. But it was related to the general theme of Cas acting like a grumpy child. Dean tried to cut the guy some slack, because falling couldn’t be easy, but at a certain point he needed to draw lines for his own sanity. And one of those lines was letting Cas share his bed.

At least, it had been, for about a week. A week of waking up in the middle of the night to Cas screaming himself out of a nightmare in the next room, of three am talks because neither of them could fall back asleep. Dean wasn’t sure if he couldn’t sleep because he knew Cas wouldn’t be able to sleep, or because it dredged up vivid memories of his own nightmares so terrifying that his mind rebelled against the very concept of sleep.

The first time Cas slept in his bed had been innocent enough. Usually, one of them would go sit in a chair in the other’s room while they talked for a while, both dozing off a little if they were lucky. This time, Cas had come padding into Dean’s room because by now he knew Dean would be awake too. He was exhausted, worn thin by too many nights in a row with too little sleep, so Dean didn’t mind when Cas stretched out on the bed next to him. In the morning, he wouldn’t remember what they said: half-asleep mumbles of comfort and confusion.

*****

When he woke the next morning, he realized he’d slept almost six hours without dreaming. Cas was still in his bed, pinning half of the blankets down so Dean couldn’t quite cover himself comfortably, snoring fit to wake the dead. Apparently they had both managed to fall back asleep last night. Dean didn’t think that had happened before, for either of them. He let Cas sleep while he went to make coffee only to discover that Sam had beaten him to it.

“Hey, Dean. You sleep okay?” Dean just nodded; shockingly well. “Cas too?” Dean’s eyes snapped to Sam’s face, looking for the taunt there, but Sam wasn’t teasing. Dean tried to hide his surprise by focusing on pouring his coffee.

“Uh, yeah. He wake you up too?” Sam nodded; Cas’s nightmares woke him up every time. But it wasn’t Sam Cas went to talk to afterwards. “I think he finally managed to get some shut eye. Maybe it’ll reduce the grumpy.” Sam huffed a laugh. Tempers had been running a little high the last few days; some decent sleep would do them all good. Dean poured coffee into a second mug before taking both back to his bedroom.

He suddenly had the urge to make sure Sam didn’t know that it was Dean’s bed Cas was asleep in. He wondered if Sam already knew.

Cas stirred when he opened the door, grumbling “what time is it?” as Dean entered.

“Morning, sunshine,” Dean said. He sat on the edge of the bed and proffered a mug towards Cas. Cas sat up and gratefully accepted his coffee. They drank in silence for a few minutes. Cas’s brain was like a car engine on a cold day most mornings: best let it run for a little while before trying to drive it anywhere. The coffee helped too.

“How did you sleep?” Dean asked, finally.

“Better,” Cas replied. “I don’t think I dreamed at all, while I was here.” He nodded his head to indicate Dean’s bed.

“Yeah, me too.” They didn’t talk about it any more than that. Cas was marginally less grumpy that day.

*****

Cas had considered just asking to sleep with Dean that night, because he knew the nightmares would return and maybe sharing Dean’s bed would help like it had last night. But he felt that this was one of those things he was not allowed to ask for: it would be awkward or inappropriate because friends didn’t sleep together, especially when they had their own beds.

So he woke in a cold sweat, again, his heart hammering. He didn’t bother with hesitating tonight, just crawled out of his bed and stumbled into Dean’s room. Wordlessly, he approached the bed, pulled back the covers and crawled underneath.

“Cas, you okay?” Dean sounded worried and confused.

“I sleep better with you.” Cas said, too tired to explain his theory further. The human mind’s need for sleep was a demanding one. Fortunately, Dean was too tired to argue about it. If they both slept better like this, what was the harm?

“Okay, just don’t go kicking me in your sleep.” Dean took a deep breath, feeling sleep dragging at the back of his skull already. Cas pulled the blankets up over his shoulders and closed his eyes.

*****

He awoke to a warm weight against his side and hair tickling his face. Dean resisted surfacing into reality, content to stay in that cozy space where the world still has soft edges and hope. Then the weight against him shifted, and a jolt shot through his body as he realized that Cas was halfway draped over him, drooling slightly on his bare chest. He considered briefly shoving Cas off of him unceremoniously, but Cas was still asleep and he didn’t want to disturb him. Besides, the probability of Cas having his grumpy little feelings hurt by that was pretty high. He could just shift him off gently, try to worm his way out, and lecture Cas later. But it had been a long time since he woke up in bed with another person, and the warm, comforting touch awoke a craving in him that he had forgotten. It felt good, having close contact like this, the smell of Cas in his nose and the touch of skin against skin. And so maybe it would look bad if someone saw, but they weren’t doing anything, or hurting anyone, so he decided to let Cas stay where he was. He wrapped one arm around Cas’s shoulders, letting it trail down to rest on his back, and placed his other hand on Cas’s forearm. Because if they were going to snuggle, damn it, he might as well enjoy it a little. The warmth of their bodies and the steady rhythm of Cas’s breath soon pulled him back under into sleep.

When he woke again, he felt eyes on him before he managed to pry his own lids open.

“Good morning, Dean,” Cas croaked.

“Morning, Cas.” He squeezed Cas a little tighter, suddenly unwilling to end this, despite the fact that Cas kind of had morning breath. Oh well, Dean was sure he did too. He turned his head so he could meet Cas’s eyes, their faces now inches apart.

It seemed like the most natural thing in the world. So Dean did it, did the thing he swore to never let himself do, caved in to the desires he had barely ever been able to admit to himself. He kissed Cas, a soft, dry press of warm lips that set his head spinning. Neither really moved, content for the moment with the simple intimacy of the contact. Dean pulled back, unsure of Cas’s response. Waking up tangled together was one thing, could be written off as nothing if they wanted, but this was something more. Cas smiled softly, though, and licked his lips. He stretched his neck up, reaching to press a kiss to the corner of Dean’s mouth, sliding his lips across Dean’s to kiss him again. This time, they both actually kissed each other, mouths sliding together in lazy drags, Cas running his hand up Dean’s chest, over his throat, to cup the back of his head as Dean did the same.

Dean wanted to laugh when it was Cas who slipped him some tongue, and not the other way around. But he was distracted by how awesome it felt, awesome enough that he didn’t mind that they both really did have morning breath. For a first kiss, it was slow and easy, the languor of early morning quelling the burn of passion into a smoulder.

Finally, Cas pulled away, nuzzling his head back into the crook of Dean’s neck. Dean pressed a kiss into his hair and wondered how he had ever waited so long to have this.


End file.
